Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony opened its slate of concerts for January 2025 with a ravishing program headlined by two masterworks of the twentieth-century classical repertoire by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Aaron Copland led by frequent guest conductor Matthias Pintscher, newly-appointed music director of the Kansas City Symphony.
subito con forza, a new score by South Korean composer Unsuk Chin written to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, served as an excellent curtain-raiser. Cloaking notable themes from works like the Coriolan Overture and Emperor Concerto in a 21st-century musical language, this was easily one of the more uniquely interesting works the CSO has played.
Pianist George Li (@georgeli_pianist) made a welcome return appearance to play Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. One of the true warhorses of the piano concerto repertoire, Li’s performance felt surprisingly intimate without losing any of its fiendish virtuosity. The first and second movements in particular were played with the technical agility and gracefulness typically found in works of Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart, which was a refreshing change of pace when compared to how other pianists have played it in Cincinnati through the years. Li encored with a sensuously relaxed performance of the first of Claude Debussy’s Images for solo piano.
Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony ranks among his most popular stand-alone orchestral works, primarily for its inclusion of his earlier Fanfare for the Common Man as a principal theme. On the whole, it stands as a musical exploration of Copland’s compositional styles, from jazz-influenced works of the 1920s to the American Romantic sound world in 1930s-‘40s ballets like Rodeo, Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring. The CSO’s reading throughout was wonderfully strong and luxuriant throughout. Maestro Pintscher proved to be a wonderfully evocative conductor, although the more tender moments of the first and third movements may have felt slightly rushed. High praise goes to the brass and percussion for their blaze of glory in the final pages of the last movement, as well as the full winds section for their cheerful reading of the second movement.
Bravi tutti!